


Watch the Flames Burning

by silver_wolf1249



Category: One Piece
Genre: Ace is stubborn, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, But so are the Whitebeard Pirates, F/F, F/M, Fighting, Insecure!Ace, M/M, Probably others as I go along, Strippers & Strip Clubs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-01-17 23:12:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12376107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silver_wolf1249/pseuds/silver_wolf1249
Summary: Ace was just trying to get by in college by working at a strip club at night, but a fight with a few members of the Whitebeard Gang turns his life 180 degrees. After kidnapping him and almost killing him for injuring their members, they want him to join their ranks. However, Ace isn't going to break so easily, but as he delves in deeper into the Underworld and Ace realizes how oblivious he's been to the antics of his friends and brother, joining the Whitebeard Gang might not be the worst idea Ace has ever had. But when Ace's past catches up with him, will the Whitebeards keep to their promise of protecting him, even from himself?





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [One Piece: Ace Lives](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/330180) by Black' Victor Cachat. 



> A big thank you to Black' Victor Cachat, who provided nearly all of the background for this story, helped me a lot during brainstorming, and gave helpful constructive criticism so I could make the story more accurate and realistic. They have also written a companion chapter to this fic, "One Piece: Ace Lives," chapter 10, on Fanfiction . Net. Their chapter also includes further details of characters and Divisions. Their piece takes place much later than mine, and their ending is drastically different. I hope you enjoy reading this!

“Hey bartender!” a man called out, “Didn’t you hear us the first time? Bring us another tray of shots! Are you deaf?”

 

Ace felt an eye twitch at the slurred voice, before straightening up and giving himself the usual “I need to keep my job don’t you dare blow it no matter how much the customers annoy you” pep talk before turning towards the man, placing the cup he was holding next to him on the counter. “I’m incredibly sorry sir,” he stated evenly, putting his best “can’t help you I’m just the staff” face, “but club policy states that as the bartender I am responsible for cutting the alcohol of whoever I deem too intoxicated along with the rest of their group.”

 

“Nonsense!” the man cried out, getting to his feet angrily, “If we want more drinks then we’ll get more drinks! Is this any way to treat paying customers?”

 

Inwardly, Ace stopped a sigh from exiting his mouth. It seemed that the man was too drunk by this point to understand what he had just informed him of and his groupies either didn’t seem to care or agreed with the man. “Again sir, I regret to to you that I cannot give you nor your company any more alcoholic drinks. If you’d like, I could recommend some other bars for you to go to?”

 

The man stepped closer with a fist raised, but one of the members in his group seemed to have some sense left and grabbed the man’s shoulder. “Come on Spencer.” the other man drawled, his eyes going in and out of focus, “If we can’t get any drinks here we can go to the other one next door, they don’t care as much on policies and whatnot.”

 

“But,” Spencer sputtered, but the other man glared at him before whispering into the other’s ear, “ _ fine _ . Come on guys, let’s take our business elsewhere.”

 

With some effort, Spencer and the man who had stopped him gathered up the rest of their group and stumbled out the door after paying their bill. Ace turned back to the cup he had been about to clean when he heard the distinctive clack of stilettos. “Mmmm~ It seems that the customers are giving you a hard time eh? I would have - mmmmm~ -loved to tie that man up for a well deserved punishment. What say you, Ace?” he heard a high pitched voice purr.

 

Placing the glass down again, he faced the woman at the bar. “Sadi-chan.” he acknowledged, “Had a nice evening?”

 

The tall blonde was wearing her signature outfit, a skimpy, hot pink devil themed costume. Her breasts were barely covered by her top, ending at tassles just below mid-breast, and was connected to a golden ring above Sadi’s belly button by a strap of fabric, which connected to her relatively skin tight pants by a few more straps. Pink high heels that turn up at the end and decorated in spikes make her tall stature even taller. Surrounding her was a long ragged cape that was white on the outside and light pink on the inside that bunched up around her neck. Her long, ripped sleeves swished as the pitchfork in her right hand lightly tapped the ground beside her. “Why, of course. I just had an eager -mmmm~ customer. They quite liked my performance -mmmm~! You should dance some more, you’re quite popular when you perform. Your last show really sent shivers down -mmmm~ my spine!”

 

A chuckle burst out of Ace’s mouth, “I’ll think about it if the owner ever needs an extra dancer, but I’m doing just fine as the bartender, thanks. How’s it going with Domino? On your off phase again?”

 

“Oh no, dearie. Domino and I have -mmmm~ come to an understanding since the last time we broke it off. We’re -mmmm~ still going strong.” Sadie hummed, looking genuinely happy in a non-perverted way that Ace hadn’t seen in quite a while.

 

A smile played on his lips, “I’m glad you guys worked it out. I don’t think I could handle another break up with one of you sleeping on my couch. I’m a college student not a relationship counselor. There’s a limit to how much I can help out.”

 

As they continued to chat, Ace checked his phone and noticed what time it was. “Hey, Sadi-chan? I think it’s time for your next show. My shift ends in five minutes so I’ll go take the trash out before I leave.”

 

They made their goodbyes and Sadi headed back towards the poles, exposed tasseled hips swaying past customers to reach them. Making his way to the back where the garbage for the night was placed, Ace grimaced at the smell emanating from the trash bags and quickly started breathing through his mouth. He picked two of the bags up before heading outside to toss them into the dumpster, repeating the action a few more times, each time grumbling more than the previous trip. ‘ _ Stupid gramps.’ _ he muttered harshly in his head, ‘ _ Just because I told him I didn’t want to join the military doesn’t mean he can just up and leave all my college fees for me to pay off! I’m going to be drowning in student fees until I’m in my fifties! And what about Luffy? Luffy sure as hell isn’t going to join the military, then how are we going to pay his college fees along with mine?’ _

 

So caught up in his griping, Ace never noticed the group of men sneaking up behind him until he caught the sight of a fist heading in his direction out of the corner of his eye. Instinctively ducking, Ace dropped the trash bags he was holding and quickly retreated away from the dumpster and the person that had just tried to attack him. Briefly, he wondered if the person was drunk, it’d make things much easier for him. Then he noticed more people closing in on him. ‘ _ Well damn,’ _ he thought to himself, ‘ _ things just keep getting better and better.’ _

 

“What do you guys want?” he questioned hazardly, fingering the butterfly knife he kept hidden in his pocket.

 

“This is payback for ya embarrassing us at the bar earlier.” a drunken drawl responded, and Ace instantly recognized the voice as the man he had refused to give drinks to earlier.

 

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” the younger man said exasperatedly, he was only following club rules for god’s sakes!

 

“We gots a…*hic*...reputation to uphold, an’ we don’ need some lil’ shit ta tell us what we can’t do. So, it’s time for a lil’...payback.” the man stated threateningly, and through the dim light of the alley, Ace could spot feral grins on several of the people's’ faces.

 

“Well then, if that’s how you want to go about doing things, you can’t fault me for self-defence, can you?” he said conversationally.

 

Quickly, Ace mapped out the people before him. There were around five people surrounding him unless others were hiding, less than the original group he had seen, but still quite a bit to fend off by himself. They started to close in on him, and the younger man readied himself. Everything afterwards was a bit of a blur. He could remember the satisfying crunch of breaking cartilage under his fist, and he was definitely going to remember the hits he took to his ribs and face, both of which were going to bruise. He dreaded what Law was going to do when he noticed. Two men were down already, one of them clutching his nose and leg in pain as the other was out cold after his head had been smashed into one of the walls. Ace’s heart pumped with adrenaline as he lifted a leg to spin kick one of his assailants in the gut.

 

“What are ya guys doing!” the man...Spencer, if Ace remembered correctly, yelled, “It’s justa kid!”

 

The teen snorted derisively at the man who had decided to hide behind the bulk of the people he had brought with him **.** After all, it hadn't been him trying to beat Ace into a pulp, so he really didn't deserve to have a say in the matter. ‘ _ Just a kid? Tell that to the shitty Gramps, not like he would have skimped on the “training sessions” because of that.’ _ Ace let loose an elated grin of his own, he really did love when people believed that he was easy prey, it made it so much more fun to prove them wrong. He ducked as a fist flew towards him, stretching out a leg to swipe it at the man’s legs to make him lose balance. A careful body flip later and the man was a dazed mess in the nearby dumpster. ‘ _ Three men down, two more to go.’ _

 

The second to last man came closer to him menacingly, and Ace dodged a kick to the gut and a misaimed punch to the shoulder before he retaliated, a headbutt to the sternum, knocking the wind out of his opponent before flipping the man over his shoulder into the alley wall, where the man lay dazed like his comrades.

 

‘ _ And then there was one.’ _ Ace thought to himself as he cracked his knuckles, smiling at Spencer, the one who most likely orchestrated all of this. “Have anything to say for yourself before I punch your lights out?” he wondered aloud, “It was a bit rude to surprise me all of a sudden you know.”

 

Spencer sputtered, “Do you even know who you’re talking to?” he slurred, looking outraged.

 

He lifted up a sleeve, but for the life of him Ace couldn’t tell what he was supposed to be seeing in the dimly lit alley. The man seemed to realize the issue, “We’re part of the Whitebeard Gang!” he sneered, “And you know what happens to people who mess with the Whitebeard Gang!”

 

For a moment, Ace froze, this was getting into dangerous territory. Whitebeard was notoriously overly protective of his ‘ _ Family _ ’, from his right hand man to the lowest in his employment. If these guys really were Whitebeard’s men...well, he was screwed six ways to Sunday. On the other hand, Whitebeard was also known for being a relatively fair man for a gang leader, and Ace was sure that he would be allowed to share his side of the story after Whitebeard’s anger had passed...or at the very least he hoped because there was no going back. “So you’re just going to hide behind your leader’s power? How cowardly!” he snarled, irritatedly walking towards Spencer.

 

“Wh-what?” the man looked worried; apparently, he hadn’t planned on Ace not caring if he was part of a gang or not.

 

“You heard me, you’re a weakling! Let me teach you a little lesson in responsibility, shall I?” the younger man giggled slightly, mouth curving upwards in a self-satisfied smirk, “If I’m going to burn, I’ll set everyone else to flames with me.”

 

It didn’t take much to knock Spencer out, a right hook to the man’s jaw pushes the inebriated man to the ground, and a kick to the back of the head left him down for the count. When Ace surveyed the scene, he huffed, bodies were strewn all over the alley and most of them were knocked out, the few that weren’t were in no situation to even stand and fight back. Pulling out his phone, Ace mentally debated whether or not he should even bother calling an ambulance, the men were the ones who had started it after all. Then he shook off the thought. Sure, they might have been the ones recklessly attacked him, but he wasn’t so heartless as to leave them injured, most of them had been drunk and weren’t in complete control of their faculties. Besides, it could earn him brownie points with the Whitebeard gang and they might interrogate him first before they kill him...Ace was hoping to whatever god or goddess out there that they wouldn’t kill him before questioning him. He wasn’t sure what might happen to the world if he wasn’t there to watch over Luffy, but he knew it wasn’t going to be anything good. 

 

Automatically dialing for an ambulance, the teen decided this decision was for the best, both for his conscience and to lift the percentage of him living through whatever the Whitebeard Pirates planned for him when they heard what happened to some of their gang members. When someone answered the call, Ace opened his mouth and smoothly lied his way through bringing an ambulance around without giving away his name, while also subtly implying that he had just happened to be throwing out the trash when he saw the men lying about, else he might be in trouble with the police as well as the Whitebeard gang, even if it had just been self-defense. He looked around again to see if there were any signs of his presence in the alley. Seeing none, and hearing sirens in the distance (becoming louder too quickly for Ace’s taste), the teen hurried to leave the scene. As the ambulances arrived, not even a shadow of the male that had called them over could be seen.


	2. Sparks Flying in the Air

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ace tells his friends what happened, and we get to see some Whitebeard action, yay!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo, nice to see you guys again after like half a year! Sorry for the late and sporadic updates but please also note that it's not going to change any time soon, so I hope you guys are ok with that. Now, other than that, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

_It had been the same dream he always had, the same burning warehouse, the same smoke stinging his eyes. A familiar memory, Luffy and him were tied up together as the temperature in the building they were trapped in grew increasingly hotter. The scene changed, and he was running under dimly lit street lights as fire chased at their heels, pulling Luffy along as best he could. His dream rippled again, and Bluejam and his gang had finally caught up with them, and his surroundings turned to white as Bluejam’s blade aimed towards Luffy. Shifting again quickly, the scene turned, and he was one of two boys crying at the end of a boardwalk overhanging the wide ocean._

 

Slowly, Ace’s eyes opened, wincing at the bright sunlight hitting his face from the nearby window. The sound of footsteps made him more aware, and he slowly raised and turned his head to see an empty lecture hall, save for his professor walking towards him. “Oh my god I’m so sorry.” Ace blurted out, “I swear I didn’t mean to fall asleep in your class.”

 

Professor Montblanc shook his head, “It’s fine, I just wanted to tell remind you that you have an assessment next Tuesday. You can find the details online on the website.”

 

Ace nodded, and stood up to pack his things and leave. His professor hesitated, “Ace,” the man paused, “are you ok?” he asked, motioning to the younger man’s face.

 

Remembering the fight from last night, Ace scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah I’m fine.” he said sheepishly, “I accidentally fell asleep at the top of the stairs and I woke up to find myself on the bottom of it.”

 

Professor Montblanc’s eyes narrowed in concern, and Ace felt his stomach sink. The professor was a well-known truth detector for a reason after all, and Ace, admittedly, had probably used similar excuses way too many times in his class for it to be plausible anymore. He felt his tension disappear as the other male shook his head. “As long as you’re ok.” the man said, shaking his head, before looking at Ace straight in the eye, “but if you need any help, know that I’m here for you.”

 

Nodding awkwardly, Ace quickly headed towards the door, his professor watching after him silently. As he left, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He pulled it out and checked, ‘ **_We’re at Shakky’s, wanna come?_ ** _’_  the message said.

 

‘ _Sure, be right there :)’_ Ace replied, smiling, leaving the building with a bounce in his step.

 

Five minutes later, Shakky’s bar loomed in front of him, and he gave a wave to the smoking bar owner as he entered. Waving to his friends surrounded by food in their familiar corner in the back, Law suddenly dragged him over to his usual chair. Ace suddenly felt panicked and froze up in his chair. “What happened to you this time?” the med student questioned, lightly prodding Ace’s bruises, “And _don’t_ tell me something like you fell asleep and fell down the stairs or something. You’re not even in any clubs that would result in such injuries because you always have to work for the stupid tuition!”

 

‘ _Am I that predictable?’_ Ace lamented to himself, as Bonney got up from her spot to reach over the table to pinch the younger man’s cheeks and pull on it, a slice of pizza hanging from her mouth.

 

“Ow, ow, ow!” Ace exclaimed, wincing, “Injured man over here!” he complained.

 

“Bonney-ya, leave Ace’s face alone.” Law grumbled, “I can’t check for other injuries with you in my face.”

 

Bonnie huffed and sat back done to finish her pizza and grab another slice. “What trouble d’ya get yourself into this time?” she asked between bites, frowning.

 

Ace grabbed a slice for himself, glad that while Shakky’s bar didn’t serve food (or at least, not food anyone would willingly eat, even for them), the owner allowed them to bring their own as long as they didn’t make too much of a mess. “Some drunk guys at the bar didn’t like that they weren’t allowed to get drinks anymore so they tried to jump me.” Ace mumbled, “It’s fine, I’m ok.”

 

“Yes, coming in covered in bruises every couple of days is the definition of ok.” Law said dryly, “Where else are you hurt?”

 

Ace hesitated before removing his shirt, placing it to the side, revealing a few bruised areas on his chest and shoulder. On his right, Kidd sighed, “You should quit working there,” the red head grunted, “Night shifts at the garage, it would be much safer.”

 

“Yeah, but they pay me more than you do.” Ace muttered under his breath, wincing as Law pressed on his ribs.

 

“No cracked or broken ribs.” Law muttered absentmindedly, “I guess you have suffered less damage than usual, most likely because the men were inebriated.” the male’s face hardened as he faced the younger male, “Regardless, Ace-ya, you should stop fighting. One day if you keep going like this you’re going to get yourself killed.”

 

“It’s not my fault trouble loves to find me though!” Ace whined, throwing his hands up into the air, regretting it almost immediately as his ribs panged in pain.

 

Even as he complained and pouted, the youngest of the group felt a burst of warmth in his chest. All through his life after...after the incident he only had Luffy, and while his younger brother was the moon and sun to him, there was only so much exposure to Luffy’s happiness and energy he could take before he wanted to either strangle him or have a heart attack at the trouble his younger brother could get into. It was a sibling thing, he assumed.

 

Law, Kidd, and Bonney had burst into his life one by one after he entered college. Law had been found in the hidden corners of the library that Ace liked to use as well, and they had acknowledged each other’s presence until one day Ace had picked up the courage to ask if the other wanted to get some much needed coffee with him right before midterms. Law had agreed, although warily, but Ace quickly managed to get the other man to put him down in his good books.

 

Kidd had been discovered when Ace had tried to search for his first part time job to pay for his school fees. The mechanic had looked menacing as he asked what he had wanted. Thankfully, Ace had plenty of experience with people like him, himself included, and had expertly landed himself a job. It had also helped that he was relatively experienced with fixing up cars.

 

The younger man had made a friend and fellow foodie in Bonney when they had coincidentally met in an all you can eat buffet and held an impromptu eating competition, which they had tied. Surprisingly, the three had already known each other, but it was Ace that managed to badger them all into being friends with each other, albeit they often had minor spats, but what friends didn’t? Then Ace thought back to last night and frowned, “Guys?” he asked tentatively, interrupting what looked like another argument between Bonney and Law about her eating habits, “I think I might have a problem.”

 

“You mean other than the one in your brain?” Bonney sneered angrily, before turning back to Law, “Get off my back doc, I’m perfectly healthy!”

 

“Oh yes, gorging yourself with junk food is completely healthy, Bonney-ya.” Law shot back scathingly before sighing and massaging the bridge of his nose before leaning back in his seat.

 

“What’s the problem?” Kidd asked, eyeing the younger male warily; when Ace said he might have a problem, it was a major mess he just jumped into.

 

“The guys I beat up yesterday…” Ace began, eyebrows scrunching up in concern, “they, uh...might be from the Whitebeard gang?” his voice rising near the end.

 

He received a face full of pizza as Bonney spat out her food to exclaim, “What?!” she shrieked.

 

The other two also stared at Ace incredulously, and the younger male nervously repeated his words. Law rubbed his face with his hands, “Of course they were.” he moaned, “They couldn’t just be your normal run of the mill drunk thugs, they had to be from the most powerful gang in the city!”

 

Bonney rose a fist, smacking the top of Ace’s head with lightning quick speed. As the younger male grasped his head in pain, she dropped the pizza still in her hand onto her plate. “You idiot!” she shrieked, “Everyone who knows anything about them know that if one of their members are hurt they’ll raise hell to avenge them!”

 

Kidd looked pityingly at Ace, asking “What flowers do you want at your funeral?”

 

Scowling, Ace glared as his so called friends, “Why does it seem that all of you want to escort me to my execution?” he grumbled, a tick mark forming on his forehead.

 

Choking out something that was half laugh, half moan, Law dumped his head into his hands, elbows on the table. Something in Ace tensed up, and on pure reflex he stood up, ready to flee, “It’d be better for me to stay away from you guys for a bit, until things have died down a bit.” he said breathily while hurrying towards the door.

 

His friends clambered out of their own chairs to chase after him, and once Ace was out the door he ran like his life depended on it. He couldn’t let his friends get involved with all this, it was too dangerous. Footsteps chased after him, and Ace found a nearby fire escape to climb up and went up the roof. Jumping across buildings, Ace ran towards where no one he knew would find him, the Grey Terminal.

* * *

 

A fist slammed onto the oval shaped wooden table, breaking it in half, “Repeat what you just said.” a voice growled, booming over the silent room.

 

“Spencer and his men said that they went out drinking in celebration of a successful mission, and when they left the establishment the were in they were accosted in the alley by one of the establishment's workers.” a blonde man reported, shifting the pair of glasses on his face, “There were no witnesses or cameras to describe what the person looked like, but they said that it had been a young male of average build, with dark hair and what they believe to be a tattoo on his arm, though if he has one most of it was covered by his uniform.”

 

“I see.” the voice rumbled, “How injured were they?”

 

“Not terribly, the most serious injuries were a few broken ribs. Jiro said that they’ll only need at most a couple weeks before they’re completely healed.” the blonde replied.

 

The mountain of a man sitting in the only chair in the room looked down to gaze into the eyes of his eldest son, “I see.” Whitebeard said slowly, calming down,“Well then, why don’t you give this young man a proper Whitebeard welcome?” he asked.

 

The edge of Marco’s lips curled up slowly into a smirk, “I’ll take some of the men with me to find him. What do you want me to do when I find him?”

 

Whitebeard hummed to himself, “Bring him back here, I want to personally oversee the punishment of someone who dared thought they could hurt my sons.”

 

Marco nodded, “Understood, warehouse three?”

 

His father nodded, Marco quickly bowing and left the room. While exiting, his pompadoured brother stepped into stride with him. “Soo, can I come with?” Thatch asked, attempting and failing to look nonchalant, “I’m getting bored around here.”

 

Marco sighed and turned to face his brother, stopping in the middle of the hallway. “Don’t you have better things to do Thatch?” he wondered aloud, “This is going to be an easy retrieval job. Only reason Pops is sending me is because this is personal, and he wants to remind everyone what happens when you mess with our family, since if some random bartender can disregard us, then everyone else will too.”

 

Thatch chuckled, “C’mon, it’ll be like old times! If Izou’s free we can bring him too!”

 

Thinking about it carefully, the idea didn’t seem too bad. It wasn’t as if capturing the target would be too hard, Marco wasn’t a commander for no reason, and it _had_ been a long time since he had hung out with any of his closer brothers. “Fine, go ask Izou if he can come.” Marco decided, “I’ll send you the location and time later.”

 

“Yes!” Thatch exclaimed, before he ran off, supposedly to tell Izou of the good news.

 

Left standing in the hallway, Marco could only shake his head in exasperation as he left to go prepare for tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Law is so done with all of his friends and Marco be planning to capture our dear flame user!! Now the question is what will happen next! Also the fic made a surprise turn because I wasn't planning Ace to head to the Gray Terminal but you know what that is a-ok because I will figure something out and you guys will probably get to see either more of Ace's past of his relationship with Dandan!! :) Please comment below what you think!

**Author's Note:**

> Another big thank you to Black' Victor Cachat! Please comment below to tell me what you think of the prologue!


End file.
